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Hi everyone
We are now in Rio De Janeiro and are due to fly home later this afternoon. As such this will be our final journal entry which we´re sure you´re all mortified about!!!
Since we last updated in Paranagua we made our way to Ilha Do Mel - a small sand island covered in palm trees and tropical rainforest - no cars, taxis, mopeds etc and therefore an ideal place to begin our wind down before home. Our first afternoon was spent sunbathing on the beach and followed up with a nice meal and Caiprinhas (the local tipple!). However, the next day shattered our illusions of island paradise as it signalled the start of three full days of rain! Suffice to say we did not see much more of the beach and instead spent many hours in our Pousada playing cards, reading and watching Robin Hood Prince of Thieves in Portugese!! There´s not a great deal else to say about this place, but we did get to chill out and stop moving around so the change was welcome.
Given the weather and the not too optimistic forecasts we decided to head up to Rio immediately but not before spending a day in Curitiba whilst awaiting the night bus. Curitiba itself is a very busy town with a pretty old town in which we mooched around for a bit before getting some lovely steak baguettes and then heading over to the station to commence our final overnight bus journey - thank goodness!!
After much faffing and searching we eventually found a decent hotel near Copacabana beach - dumped our bags and quickly made for the beach as for once the sun was shining. Copacabana is as buzzing and energetic as everyone says and we had a great afternoon and evening in the little kiosks along the beach. The following day we decided to try the walking tour suggested in the lonely planet. It took in the very modern yet ultimately horrible cathedrl, a convent, old pub, port and cultural center. We then headed up to Santa Teresa on the train where everyone hangs from the sides!! Its a lovely little place set in the hills and consists entirely of cobbled streets, cafes and craft shops. Once back in Copacabana we picked up our stuff and headed off to a different part of town and actually managed to half the cost of our room by doing so, so we were chuffed with the extra cash for food and drink and celebrated by hitting one of the kilo-grills which you find in Brazil where you load you´re plate up and then have it weighed to determine the price.
On our third day in Rio we hit one of the flagship attractions and the subject of the photo with this entry - sugar loaf mountain! We saw some fantastic views of the city and for the first time realised just how enormous it is and yet how stunningly set around mountains and coastline. We then headed off to the slightly less famous Ipanema Beach which has just as much of a buzz and is much cleaner and safer feeling than its more illustrious neighbour!
The next day became a job day so we got some photos burnt and did our laundry before heading off to the cinema to watch a flim with Ed Norton called the Illusionist which turned out to be really good and an afternoon well spent.
Having decided to try our luck with an island again we headed off to Ilha Grande the following day. We planned to stay in another Pousada however a lovely family offered us a room in their house for much less money and a great location. The little lady seemed to love us and even washed our smelly socks! Ilha Grande is also a paradise ilsland with loads of little beaches and rainforest walks. We spent the afternnon on the beach swimming in the gorgeous clear water. The following day we walked to a different side of the island with an over chatty but nice Brit and caucht some more rays before catching a baot back to base. The island has a lively promenade with lots of restauarnts and bars and cake sellers (fantastic) so we made use of all of them.
On our final full day we did another walk which despite being tough going was well worth it as we were rewarded with a swim to cool down and yet another lovely beach. Having chatted to our new Brit mate we discovered that the suburbs of Rio have their pre Carnaval Sabma rehearsals on Wednesday evenings. We did not wnat to miss out so left Ilha Grand eon Wednesday morning and by way of boat, taxi and bus evetually arrived in Ipanema to check into a hostel for our final 3 nights. The samba rehearsal was brilliant, we saw a parade of 800 Brazilaians of all ages dance and sing and play musical instruments literally non stop for 2 hours, we were very impressed and it gave us a little feel for what the actually Carnaval would be like except with 32,000 people.
The next day we decided to make the most of a grey day and did a couple of museums, one of which had a really good ´´World Press Photos of 2006´´ exhibition. In the evening we made the most of Ipanemas nightlife and went to an Irish bar where Rich was thoroughly impressed with his first full pint of South America! Our last full day of our trip was definitely one of the best, we started with the world famous statue of Christ which looms over Rio and is really impressive with its size and location. In the afternnon we caught the last of South American sunshine on Ipanema beach. In the evening we went to the rocky outcrop at the end of the beach with our chilled white wine and watched sunset, it was really beautiful and a fitting end to the trip. We celebrated the success of our trip with a meal in a swanky beach front fish restauarnt where we enjoyed some amazing food and equally incredible views.
Overall our 6 month adventure has proven to be the best 6 months of our lives. Right from the start we have loved every minute and by cramming so much in we have collected a lifetime of memories. Along with all the places we have been to we have met some amazing people, both local and fellow travellers that we hope to stay in contact with. Whilst we are both very sad to have finished our trip we are looking forward to seeing everybody back home and catching up on all the goss we have missed.
Hope to see you all soon
Lots of Love Beth and Rich
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